interjection

An interjection is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection to the rest of the sentence and simply expresses emotion on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definitions. Filled pauses such as uh, er, um, are also considered interjections. Interjections are generally uninflected function words and have sometimes been seen as sentence-words, since they can replace or be replaced by a whole sentence (they are holophrastic). Sometimes, however, interjections combine with other words to form sentences, but not with finite verbs. Also, interjections like "so" and "what" are rarely used in the sentences.

Interjections are used when the speaker encounters events that cause these emotions — unexpectedly, painfully, surprisingly or in many other sudden ways. But several languages have interjections that cannot be related to emotions.

The word "interjection" literally means "thrown in between" from the Latin inter ("between") and iacere ("throw").

Examples in English

For a list of English interjections, see the list of English interjections at Wiktionary.

Conventions like Hello, Bah, and Goodbye are interjections, as are exclamations like Cheers! and Hurray!. In fact, very often they are characterized by exclamation marks depending on the stress of the attitude or the force of the emotion they are expressing. Well can also be used as an interjection, for example when put at the beginning of a sentence. Much profanity (see also expletive) takes the form of interjections. Some linguists consider the pro-sentences yes, no, amen and okay as interjections, since they have no syntactical connection with other words and rather work as sentences themselves. Expressions "Excuse me!", "Sorry!", and similar ones often serve as interjections. Interjections can be phrases or even sentences, as well as words:

As I entered the room — Oh, my goodness! What I saw! — he was still standing there.

Phonology

Several English interjections contain sounds that do not, or very rarely, exist in regular English phonological inventory. For example (pronunciation shown in IPA):

• Ahem [ əʔəm ], or [ʔəhɛm] ("attention!") contains a glottal stop that is common in German.
• Shh [ ʃːː ] ("quiet!") is an entirely consonantal syllable.
• Ps [ ps ] ("here!"), also spelled psst, is another entirely consonantal syllable-word, and its consonant cluster does not occur initially in regular English words.
• Tut-tut [ ǀ ǀ ] ("shame..."), also spelled tsk-tsk, is made up entirely of clicks, which are an active part of regular speech in several African languages. This particular click is dental.

  There is also a less popular pronunciation [ tʌt tʌt ].

• Ugh [ ʌx ] ("disgusting!") ends with a Spanish and Gaelic consonant, a velar fricative.
• Whew/Phew [ ɸɪu ] ("what a relief!") starts with a bilabial fricative, a sound pronounced with a strong puff of air through the lips. This sound is a common phoneme in such languages as Suki (a language of New Guinea) and Ewe and Logba (both spoken in Ghana).
• Gah ("Gah, there's nothing to do!"), pronounced how it is spelled, ends with [ h ], which does not occur with regular English words.

See also

• Ejaculation (grammar)
• Discourse marker
• Filler (linguistics)
• List of interjections in other languages at Wiktionary.

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